Best IPS Monitor Selection For 2017

For those of us who spend a lot of their time on the computer, display quality has become an important issue. From CRT to OLED monitors, modern technology had a great impact on the monitors we use today.

IPS ( In-Plane Switching ) monitors have the advantage of reproducing the color spectrum in a very efficient manner and offers the user a broad angle view. Compared to first generation LCD monitors, where you couldn’t see a thing when viewing from one side, this is the field where IPS is considered a winner.

2017 was a good year when it comes to technology breakthroughs and the display market is also a part of it. We know its hard to decide which best ips monitor fits your needs, so we have compiled a small list.

1. Dell UP2718Q IPS Monitor

Addressed to professionals with a generous budget, the Dell UP2718Q is a monitor that impresses on all chapters.

The 27 “diagonal screen uses an AHVA (IPS) LCD panel featuring 100% coverage of the Adobe RGB palette, 100% of the sRGB, 100% Rec. 709, 97.7% DCI-P3 and 76.9% of the Rec. 2020 color space.

Dell offers the factory pre-calibrated UP2718Q monitor to represent sRGB and Adobe RGB color palettes with DeltaE precision of less than 2. The screen can be used for professional photo / video editing without the need for any other fine-tuning.

2. BenQ SW320 IPS Monitor

The BenQ SW320 features a 10-bit IPS panel, Adobe RGB color space, and advanced color calibration tools.

The model puts strong emphasis on a versatile connectivity, providing HDMI, DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort 1.4 ports as well as PC connections with Macs or latest generation graphics cards in Windows configurations. At the same time, for the fast transfer from mobile storage media, the user can use a USB 3.0 hub and an SD card reader.

3. Dell UltraSharp UP2718Q IPS Monitor

Dell unveiled its first UltraSharp monitor with the ability to display content in HDR10 format. This is called the UltraSharp UP2718Q and seems to be geared towards creative professionals, promising natural colors, an expanded color range spectrum and high brightness to meet the HDR standard. Like other high-end Dell models, it comes with a 4K panel.

Currently there is very little HDR10 content on PCs, just services such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime offering compatibility with it. Windows 10 from the new Creators Update has received native HDR display support, and video games start with small steps to adopt this technology on your PC.

While all three models are a delight to the eye, when it comes to pricing things don’t look so well. Anyone who wishes to own such a masterpiece in their office or home has to take over $1,200 out of their pocket. If it’s worth it or not, it’s up to the end-user to decide.

One thing is for sure. If we are to compare them with monitor technology from the 2015 for example, they are worth every penny.

Virtual Reality Keyboard Might Be Closer Than We Expect

Virtual Reality (VR) is getting more and more popular with every passing day.

Although anything seems possible in VR, things are not that simple.

One example is using real objects while wearing a VR headset.

Imagine you are in a Virtual Reality session and you want to use your keyboard. It’s not that simple, is it?

The main obstacle is that you can’t really see and feel the object. In this case your keyboard.

A simple VR representation of a keyboard is not enough.

Think how hard it would be to hit those keys positioned in thin air.

This is where Logitech comes to play.

The company promises to solve this problem.

Their solution is to perfectly align the VR keyboard with the real one on your desk.

Logitech’s solution is compatible with HTC Vive and has three essential components:

• a physical keyboard
• a sensor that tracks and locates the real keyboard, then displays it in VR
• a VR SDK development library kit fir developers to play with it

Here is a video presentation from Logitech.

The VR keyboard is still in experimental stage.

Developers still have to position the hands perfectly aligned with reality.

This includes detecting finger movements. A task not that easy as it seems.

How Logitech have manage to come to such a solution is still not clear.

We can only presume they had help from HTC Vive, which already had implemented similar sensors.

At the moment, the VR keyboard is still in a concept stage.

The gadget will be officially presented on November 16th.

It’s primary target is VR gamers and apps enthusiasts.

Logitech will only ship out 50 such kits to developers.

If they will decide to integrate the technology with their own gadgets, Logitech will probably start to mass produce the solution.

Time will tell.

Personally, I would love to surf the web from my bed without worrying about my keyboard.

Quad Core Ultrabook – From Razer for Gamers

We all enjoy playing games from our portable devices, but it’s a struggle to enjoy the latest resource demanding ones, until now at least. Razer recently announced their new quad core ultrabook, the Blade Stealth 2017, packing some serious CPU from Intel’s latest generation and extremely low power consumption. And if you think this isn’t enough, the ultrabook comes attended by a new accessory named Core V2 which can power a high-end graphics card meant for desktops to run with your new Blade.

 

quad core ultrabook razer blade stealth 2017

 

So what exactly makes this gadget so special? The new quad core ultrabook Blade Stealth 2017 benefits from one of the latest breakthrough in terms of CPU from Intel, we are talking about the Core i7-8550U. Don’t let the U at the end scare you away, it has 4 core and 8 threads which makes it a lot better than the 2 core cpu installed on last year model from Razer. The CPU runs at 1.8GHz, but it can reach up to 4GHz using Intel’s Turbo Boost technology, a frequency demanded by high-end games which are relatively new and could only be played on your desktop until now.

But wait, there’s more! Accompanying this high-end CPU, our quad core ultrabook comes with 16 GB of RAM memory, which is more than enough to run mostly any software you might need. By this I mean it should have no problem what so ever meeting your expectations if you wish to work in Adobe apps like Photoshop, etc.

But all this tech would be for nothing if we can’t please our sight, right? The display on our Blade Stealth 2017 is high-end as well. Don’t let its size fool you. Touchscreen option, 3200 x 1800 QHD resolution and 13″ in size which also supports sRGB will make sure to give you a million dollar sight when playing your favorite games.

In terms of graphics, the stand alone quad core ultrabook uses  Intel UHD Graphics 620 which as most know can’t handle any modern games at the desired quality. This is where the Razer Core V2 comes into play. Here’s a small picture to give us an idea on how the setup would look like in our home / office.

Razer Core V2 Setup Tied To Quad Core Ultrabook Razer Blade Stealth 2017

Looks complicated? It’s not, really. All you have to do is plug-in the Core V2 on your quad core ultrabook using the ThunderBolt 3 jack, pack in a dedicated graphics card and you are ready to go.

The Razer Core V2 uses a 500W power supply, one Gigabit Ethernet port and four USB 3.0 ports. They assured the public it will be compatible with most if not all Nvidia cards from the geForce 10 series and with Radeon RX 500 series from AMD. Pretty impressive little thing, isn’t it?

 

One thing worth mentioning that I haven’t seen anyone else talking about is the heating issue. Which is not an issue anymore (not that it was a big one in the past with Razer). By using the Core V2, all the display power will be handled by its own power supply, so your quad core ultrabook will be more cool (temperature wise) because it will be using just the CPU and RAM.

Prices are yet unknown but I am sure they will come up with a pretty decent deal like they always have. Maybe we will see a special offer around Black Friday next month, who knows. What are your thoughts on this gaming quad core ultrabook? Would you give it a go versus your desktop setup?

Best Headphones For Running Outside

After more and more smart phone makers started removing the 3.5mm headphones jack, Bluetooth headphones started to gain more and more popularity. Going with the flow, most of the major headphones manufacturers started paying more attention to this segment. Creative, a popular company in the field could have not turn a blind eye on such an occasion, and thus the Outlier Sports headphones emerged to the surface. It’s waterproof ability, huge battery autonomy and high quality sound offered by the Singapore company makes it one of the best headphones for running outside one could wish for.

 

Headphones Design

The Outlier Sports headphones are tied together through a cable that has installed a tiny remote on it. This includes the volume + and – buttons, a multifunctional scroll wheel and of course the mini usb charging port. One cool feature that got my attention is that if you long press the volume keys, it can skip the song back or forward, and if you short press the wheel, it will pause the song or answer an incoming call. They weight just about 15 grams and are around 50cm long.

The micro USB port has a plastic cap that should and will block sweat and rain drops inside, thus protecting the best headphones for running outside from water. The actual headphones themselves have silicone caps that helps pretty decently in noise cancellation from outside. They come with little wings that you attach around your ear so they don’t drop out when you workout. They come by default with 3 pairs of caps and wings of different sizes.

Sadly, there is one missing part that people really love about bluetooth earphones for running that don’t fall out, it doesn’t offer magnets to keep them together while they hang around your neck.

The cable coating for these headphones is made from a nice adherent material which makes them stick around your neck or skin, thus reducing the risk of losing these babies. You also get some sort of clam to lock them on your clothes if you feel insecure.

Performance

Creative Outlier Sports offers a better sound quality compared to the other two bluetooth sport headphones they own. I’m talking about Samsung Level U and Anker SoundBuds. While turning the volume up, the sound is really clear and no delays or lagging occurs like we’ve seen in previous models. One thing tends to be in the lower side, and that’s the bass, but it’s not bad either, I would rate it at least decent.

One other things worth mentioning is that you don’t get those short interrupts when the phone is in your pocket, something I can’t state for their other two bluetooth  workout headphone models.

Regarding autonomy, nothing but good words can be spoken about Outlier. I’ve noticed up to 10 hours of battery time with 70-80% volume. This should keep most people good for around two to three days of usage while working out.

I’ve also used these  wireless running headphones for audio calls and I’ve been told my voice is very clear. I honestly didn’t expect this given the fact that the mic is positioned on the side rather than on the tiny remote.

 

Conclusion

 

Outlier Sports are one of the best mid-range price best wireless running headphones I’ve used in a while. They offer a clear quality sound, more than average autonomy regarding battery, sweat proof and they stay rather nice and tight in your ear. On the down side we have the lack of the magnetic lock which would have been of great use in my opinion, but perhaps that would have taken a toll on the size. They go for around $55 so I would recommend them without second guessing. Here’s a nice presentation video.